Visual Stories from Puerto Rico | A Closer Look at Culture and Personality

December 03, 2012

Visual Stories from Puerto Rico | A Closer Look at Culture and Personality

Blog by: Russo Mutuc

My recent trip to Puerto Rico, taken from a photographers perspective. Capturing local cultures from; food, dance, style, arts, architecture, people, urban personalities, and more...

New photos will be added daily.

Puerto Rico, a country filled with so many shades of life and colors. Generally, a happy country where you will come across smiling people moving to the rhythm of the music.

Walk the streets of San Juan, and you will feel the city's vibrant mood and see the many colors from city. I walked several days, especially, during the day time, and some nights around the city. Away from the, "gringo zone," and into the local spaces. Some might consider the areas I went to, hood, to me, it's culture at it's best. See how the locals lived, played, eat, and entertained themselves.

In the image below, I came across this church, as I was walking during lunch time. I saw the glare from the sun passing through the cross, with softened light, creating a halo around the roof of the church. I exposed the image from the shadow side of the building, and after, I fine tuned it in Lightroom.

Colorful church in the San Juan, Puerto Rico.

On this night, the beats can be heard about a block away. The waves on the beach crashing under the clear sky of the night. Locals gathered late night, on a Wednesday night by the beach for drum circle. In the image below, I captured with my Nikon D80 with kit lens 18-134mm on a Quatrum tripod. Set my camera to 30 sec at f22 and this is what it came out to. The island breeze made the palm trees rock side-to-side which created a blurry look in some parts of the image.

A night with the locals playing in the drum circle.

Here are more images from the drum circle, in the beaches of Puerto Rico.

Drum circle around the camp fire

After noticing a dancer move to the beat of the drum, I had asked her to dance with a small flash light. This is what the final image came out to.

Dancing with light, during the drum circle.

In my first afternoon walking around the city, I came across some of the locals. Ihad met Ivanielys Andino Cruz, and her friends. She attracted my attention, as she was full of smiles and life. I had asked he if I can take her portrait emphasizing on her smile, tattoo, and her red shoes.

Street portrait - Ivanielys Andino Cruz

I met this brother and sister on one of my day walks. Miia Fer and Alexander stood out for their style. Not only was I hunting for people, but for the urban styles from the city. Both of them had the greatest personality which really communicated well in the camera, with little effort of me directing them. The playfulness really shined on every exposure I took. More images coming soon from this two...

Urban styles from Puerto Rico. (Models Miia Fer and Alexander Sabater)

The sun was setting, and the light was at it's best, soft light blanketing this vibrant green bike parked next to this illuminating yellow wall. A nice mixture of lines and shapes to compliment the image.

Lines ,shapes, and colors of Puerto Rico

After capturing the bike on the yellow wall, I crossed the street, and saw this amazing street art piece. The textures of this wall made it so much more dramatic. A great location to compliment the the art piece. Plastic bottles and containers painted red to signify internal organs, really enhanced the art piece by giving it that 3D look.

Street art from Puerto Rico

Streets in the hood are not typically places where many tourist would flock to, because of the danger, pollution, and not so pleasing sites. But if you look deep enough into the textures of the places, you can find some interesting stories. In a photographic perspective, you can discover so much variety in the walls. Take for example the image below. Layers of wall paper are hidden from the other, and in time, it starts to create this aging and torn up texture. In contrast of the psuedo art that was imposed on the wall, and the rusting metal into the frame, I eventually ended up with a unique perspective on this space.

Street texture, graffiti, and art.

In the image below, I discovered this street art piece while I was walking in the street. I had my point-and-shoot camera, Panasonic Lumix with me. As I was figuring out how to better compose this on a frame, I noticed the balance of light and shadows. I waited for a few minutes to create an even richer image by having a moving subject pass through the frame, which added more depth into the image.

Woman quickly looks at the art piece in the wall, as she came walking by.

Hot salsa nights are happening in El Boricua - Calle Saldaña Esq. Braumbaugh, (a pasos de la UPR), Rio Piedras, 00925, Puerto Rico. A favorite hot spot amongst the locals, especially, college students.

Take the train to Rio Piedras, and walk about two blocks, and you will come across this lively bar playing music, dancing to salsa, and patrons hanging out. Walls covered in graffiti and art pieces around the neighborhood.

I met some new friends on this night. I captured the essences of salsa dancing through their movements. I also captured portraits of some of the locals, who wanted to be photographed.

Robert and Amalis dancing Salsa

Julian Ernesto Figuaroa is a French born, with Puerto Rican parents. Speaking several languages, he is natural linguist. A writer and a poet, he uses those skills to spit rhymes through hip hop music.

Portrait of Julian Ernesto Figueroa

Man twirls his mustache for the portrait picture.

When you're on foot, there is no space not overlooked. From low to high, I will try and find and seek compositions and subjects. Powerlines have always drew me in with it's strong textures and shapes. Since it's space that is hardly looked upon, the story is worthy of exposing. Below are a couple of pics I took with my point-and-shoot camera, Panasonic Lumix.

Textures from powerlines, barbwires, and Puerto Rican window.

Puerto Rican powerlines

Feral cats are common in the streets of Puerto Rico. In this case, as I was walking through this neighborhood, I came across two cats just about to connect. They briefly rubbed noses and went about their separate ways. What makes this image striking is the environment from the aging pastel colored buildings. Contrast it with the cats in the streets, it's a nice look at the hood life, in this community.

More feral cats as they scavenge for food in the trash. The timing was just right for me to capture then, lined up, which made my framing look better considering there was nothing more than just trash.

Early morning just at the entrance of La Perla. The sun is rising and starts to illuminate the cemetery.

Early morning, at the entrance of La Perla, the sun is rising from the East, and slowly starts to give light to the beach and homes of the community.

Sunrise at La Perla.

In one of the many colorful neighborhoods of Playa Ponce, I came across this little girl sitting in front of her home, watching the other kids play.

In Playa Ponce, a man retouches and paints his home.

In Playa Ponce, this corner market employee helps his boss paint the interior of the market.

Owner of the corner market sweeps in front of his store.

Woman sitting patiently, as time passes her by, and she people watches.

At the walls of the El Morro Lighthouse. The aging wall covered with graffiti, and in contrast with the waves crashing along the structure.

Local BBQ spot in Ponce, Puerto Rico. Man rotating his BBQ for waiting customers.

This rustic colonial like bar makes a very interesting subject to capture. With the building having so much character, it's an ideal place to enjoy a local dive bar.

Early morning, captured this woman talking her morning walk, and the beautiful sunrise glowing in the horizon.

Caught this man reading a paper, on the rooftop of his home, in La Perla, just before the sunset.

On this evening, I camped most of the night, in the streets of Old San Juan. Most of the night it rained, so I was mostly underneath balcony's or some random roof. But when the rain stopped, I composed my camera to capture this next image. The moon creeping out of the clouds, just enough for me to capture a shot in between.